When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Stock Problems/IssuesDiscussions related to warranty related issues and repairs, or other problems with the OEM parts and software for MINI Clubman (R55), Cooper and Cooper S(R56), and Cabrio (R57).
My JCW is making a funny cricket like chirp at idle. Being that it's a 2013, I thought water pump issues were cured. So I followed the posted TSB and got some water on the serpentine belt; the noise goes away. The noise also goes away when the AC is switched on. The noise does go away above 1000rpm, but water on the belt indicates that it's not likely internal.
Thoughts on the solution? The car is 3 years old but only has 10000 miles, could it just need a new serpentine belt? Are there idler pulleys I could replace? I doubt it's the water pump since water on the belt made the sound disappear, as did the increased load from AC. As I'm typing this, it makes less sense that a pulley has a bad bearing too, but I'm not sure what I don't know here. I also took some videos, but I'm not sure how to post them from my phone.
Sounds like a drive belt chirping. I would start with a new OEM belt. But, could be the friction wheel, normally called a tensioner. Or the water pump pulley. This is honestly the oddest serpentine belt set-up I have ever seen. I hope you are still under warranty.
Sounds like a drive belt chirping. I would start with a new OEM belt. But, could be the friction wheel, normally called a tensioner. Or the water pump pulley. This is honestly the oddest serpentine belt set-up I have ever seen. I hope you are still under warranty.
I am still under warranty. Is this expensive? I realize there's a lot of parts to pull to get at the serpentine on this car, though I guess it's probably a lot easier to go through the wheel well.
What's very odd is that it isn't consistent. I just got back to St. Louis, and after a long highway drive from Chicago it didn't appear, nor after my morning or evening commutes. I'm not sure what causes it to appear one day, but not another.
If you still have the warranty what are we, the amateur sleuths going to do that the dealer won't do for free?
It's more to have useful information based on others' past experiences so that when I go to the dealer I don't have to experience poor customer service: I can direct them in their role of service tech more effectively if I've narrowed down the choices of where to look.
Most dealerships don't give their techs enough rope to explore solutions with; they go do one task that often isn't needed and doesn't actually sort the problem. Once I'm out of warranty I'll go to a specialist for things like this.
I've been to MINI of St. Louis before and their service department is pretty nice. I had them put on my fJCW exhaust and they didn't charge me for the clamp which was supposedly $55, only about an hour of labor. They also let me bring my own oil (Mobil-1 0W-40) and did the oil change for $60. I don't remember if I was able to talk to any of the techs but I think they're very customer-oriented and want to help you any way they can.
The only other shop I've been to is Autos of Europe out in Manchester. They run a good shop but their labor rates are similar to dealer. I had them fix a sunroof leak for less than dealer was charging.
